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Yankees-Red Sox: It Doesn't Matter

© Harold Friend

Major League Baseball is hurting its arm by patting itself on the back so much. It is ecstatic that "...a grand total of 15 clubs -- or exactly half of Major League Baseball -- are within five games of a division or Wild Card lead." The Cardinals, Twins, and Braves have substantial leads but the Dodgers, Athletics, and Yankees do not. The Dodgers and the Athletics might not make the playoffs but the Yankees and the Red Sox will, and that is just the point.

Major League Baseball and its lackey, the media, have convinced fans that the Yankees and the Red Sox have the greatest rivalry in sports---wait---in the HISTORY of sports. Fine. How is this related to the wild card? No matter which team wins the American League Eastern Division title this season, its fiercest rival could still win the World Series because of the wild card (okay, I know it's the RED SOX, but if all things are possible, isn't THAT possible?).

This week end the Red Sox come into Yankee Stadium for three games which were sold out fifteen minutes after tickets went on sale last December, and next week the Yankees go to Boston for three more games. The games will be intense and the hatred great but just think how it would be if the team that loses the division is out of the playoffs. The wild card provides a safety net that offers an excuse to the loser and forces the winner to win again if the two teams meet in October and they might not.

The Yankees or the Red Sox or both could be eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. The upcoming six games could be the last games the Yankees and Red Sox play against each other but we will not know that. All we will know is that no matter what the outcomes of the six games, both teams will make the playoffs. This is a serious weakness in the wild card concept which seriously detracts from the regular season but most fans accept Major League Baseball's propaganda about how important the six Yankees-Red Sox will be, which is ridiculous.

Today, September 14, the Athletics lead the Twins by one game, so if the playoffs started right now, the Yankees would play the Twins and the Red Sox would play the Athletics. So what. How much difference would it make if the Yankees wound up playing the Athletics and the Red Sox played the Twins? Virtually none. And it could be reversed. That's it folks. That is all that the Yankees-Red Sox games mean because of the wild card.

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